[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. This is the next message in our series in the book of 2 Corinthians, entitled, We Faint Not.
[0:14] All right, take your Bibles, if you would, and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, if you would, and we'll look at verse 18 and following. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting in verse 18.
[0:27] And I sure appreciate everything that you've all done today. Thanks for getting the food. Thanks for all that you've done. And just excited. You know that you're givers, you're mission givers.
[0:40] And so I want you to, you know, right now, we're just about to start losing a whole lot of missionaries to the place they're supposed to be. The UNs leave in just a couple of months.
[0:51] In December, the UNs leave. In January, Jim Roberts leaves. And David leaves. And I think it's April, Philip leaves. And May, Scott leaves.
[1:02] And at the same time, we have a whole new troop of young guys coming up that'll still be around here learning and training. And I just thank you for being such givers. And all that you do to help get the gospel around the world.
[1:13] What a privilege it is. And it's really fitting because we're going to talk about the ministry of reconciliation. This would be, back when I traveled all the time and preached, this would be one of my favorite passages to preach.
[1:24] 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 18, down to the end of the chapter, if you would, with me. The Bible says, Be ye reconciled to God.
[2:02] For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Father, I thank you for the privilege of sharing the wonderful ministry of reconciliation that you've given to us.
[2:16] I thank you for the chance, first of all, to be saved, to be reconciled to you. And I praise you for that. And then I secondly thank you that we have the privilege of sharing this great message all around the world.
[2:26] I pray, God, that you'd call out more laborers and send more laborers to the field. I pray, God, you'd call out more people to go and help start churches here in America, to reach parts of America that don't really preach this message, don't really get out and try to get the message to people.
[2:42] I pray that your name would be glorified in all of it. Help us to see this passage and understand it. And I'll give you great praise for all. In Jesus' name, amen. Number one, if you'll take your Bible, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
[2:58] Write down, we've been given the ministry of reconciliation. That's what it says in verse 18 and verse 19. If you would look at verse 18, look at the last part of the verse, underline in your Bible, hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
[3:13] Hath given to us. It's already ours, already placed in our possession, already given to us. Not going to be given, hath been given. Verse 19, in case you didn't understand verse 18, he starts off, says, to wit.
[3:27] That means in case you didn't get it, catch it in this verse. The last part of verse 19, he says, hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. He has given it to us. He has committed it to us.
[3:38] He has given us the word. He's given us the story of Jesus. He's given us salvation and he has trusted us with it. He has committed it to us. So if you would go with me, let's just learn a few things real quickly about that.
[3:50] Get a hold of that so that you more eagerly will share Jesus. Would you write this down somewhere? He has reconciled us. He has reconciled us.
[4:02] We didn't reconcile ourselves. It's a common thing for you to say, I found the Lord. I'm praying he'll find the Lord. The truth is he found us.
[4:13] We didn't find him. He loved us. We love him because he first loved us. And so he came to us. We did not reconcile ourselves. Too often we think we can or they can.
[4:23] We think, in fact, it's the purpose of religion is for you to figure out a way for you to get to God. But religion never works, never gets you there. Man cannot get to God, never has been able to, never will be able to.
[4:34] It's all by Jesus. The second thing I want you to note and write this down is he reconciled us by Jesus Christ. He reconciled us by Jesus Christ.
[4:44] Look at 2 Corinthians 5.18. So you mark this in your Bible. God did the reconciling. God did the reconciling. The Father reconciled us. There was a division between us and God.
[4:56] God fixed that division and he did it by Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
[5:06] Look at that. By Jesus Christ. Now how did he do that? You see, you and I owed a debt. We had offended God. We had, God had, God had placed Adam and Eve in the garden. God had placed them there giving them no rules to live by.
[5:20] Only one thing they weren't supposed to do. They weren't to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And man's rebellion. Man is, I want to do what I want to do. And nobody's going to tell me what to do. And that was Adam and Eve's attitude.
[5:33] They rebelled against God. What does God do about that? God comes down and says, I'm going to take your sin. And I'm going to place it on Jesus. And I really wish you'd look this up. If you don't have it already marked and you don't know it very well.
[5:45] Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5. If there's a place where the gospel is clear and written down for us. That's a passage that we've gone over many times. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5.
[5:57] And mark some words there. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
[6:09] All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. The ministry of reconciliation.
[6:20] First, I've been reconciled. I didn't reconcile myself. God reconciled me. And God reconciled me by Jesus Christ. And what he did was take my sin and lay it on Jesus.
[6:31] Everything that happened to Jesus on that day was taking place for me. And what was going on in my life. Look if you would in 2 Corinthians 5.19. 2 Corinthians 5.19.
[6:41] You just keep your Bible there. Mark a lot of things there. Notice that it was God that reconciled us. Not just Jesus. Some of you somewhere bought into the Catholic doctrine that God was angry and Jesus pacified him.
[6:55] God was angry and Jesus pacified him. Not true. The Father loves you. The Son loves you. The Holy Spirit loves you. God loves you. God the Father loves you.
[7:06] God the Father is not some angry guy with a long beard and long white hair with lightning bolts in his hands. Set up in heaven waiting to kill you. He reconciled you. Read verse 19 with me. 2 Corinthians 5.19.
[7:17] Look at what it says. To wit that God was in Christ. God was in Christ. God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them.
[7:30] And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. God was in Christ. It was God that did the reconciling. It was God who hath reconciled us. That's a very important thing.
[7:41] I want you to understand. That's a very important truth. Because somehow you get the idea. Now listen to me. I hope you pay attention. You get the idea that the Old Testament God was a severe God. Who was killing people for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day.
[7:53] Who had all these rules. That was wanting to damn people to hell. It was like he's up in heaven. Like I'm going to get them all. And then we finally break into the New Testament. Isn't it sweet? All of a sudden Jesus comes on the scene.
[8:03] And Jesus is a nice guy. Good cop, bad cop. God's a bad guy. Jesus is a good guy. Not true. Not biblical. Not at all biblical. God reconciled us. God was in Christ reconciling us to the Father.
[8:17] All things are of God. So God can do what he wants. And God himself was in Christ reconciling us to himself. Reconciliation is his forgiving us by not counting our sins against us.
[8:29] Look at verse 19. Underline what it says in verse 19. It says to whip that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them.
[8:41] And has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Underline please not imputing their trespasses unto them. Do you know what God was doing? You know what God did?
[8:52] He looked down and he said Austin here's all your sin. And it's like he's got this big ledger book open. And it's got all your debts on one column. And all your income in one column. All your debts in another column.
[9:03] And how much money you still have there. You got the saldo. That's what it is in Spanish. I'm trying to think of the word in English. But you got how much money you got left over. And we're all in debt. We can't pay the bill.
[9:14] But what God did was he said you know what? I'm going to take all your sins off of your account. And I'm not going to hold them against you. I won't write your bill down on your name. Not imputing their sins unto them.
[9:25] Look at the verse if you would. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world. The world unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses.
[9:36] The world's trespasses unto them. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. He reconciled the world. Was that a mind blower?
[9:47] What a crazy verse. What a crazy thought. He reconciled the world. Look at verse 19 again. Read it with me. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling what?
[10:00] Help me. Reconciling what? The world unto him. Not imputing their world trespasses unto them. World. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[10:12] Everything has been done on God's side of the equation. Everything has been done on God's side of the equation. Not all will be saved or are saved.
[10:23] But salvation has been made available to everyone who will believe individually. And you and I are ambassadors of that fact. Look at verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.
[10:37] As though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead be you reconciled to God. What a verse.
[10:48] What a verse. I'm going to show you in a very childish way what that verse is saying. I really want you to look at the verse. It's just plain English. So look at the verse for me if you would.
[11:00] Jeff will you and Mindy come up here. Jeff and Mindy have had a problem. They've been fighting and fussing. Mindy would you stand right over here please. Y'all didn't know but they've had major marriage problems going on here.
[11:10] And so Jeff and it's Mindy's fault. Everybody knows that say amen. Or do you agree with that. It's always good preaching. That's old-fashioned preaching.
[11:21] Amen. All right. Now look if you would at verse 18 what it says. Now we're ambassadors for Christ. And so I need an ambassador for Jeff. Which one of you guys. Come up here be Ed. News boy come on up here.
[11:33] And to be an ambassador. Look at him pulling pants up. Yeah I like that. All right. Now look what the verse says. Now then we're ambassadors for Christ. This is going to be an ambassador for Jeff. As though Jeff did beseech you by us.
[11:46] You see what God's doing is God said. I'm going to give the message to somebody else. To go and beg her. Let's get things right. I need you to get things right. Read the verse. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as God.
[11:56] As though God did beseech you by us. Then he says we pray you in Christ's stead. One more person over here. Adam come here. One more person. And Christ's stead. You see watch this.
[12:08] Come on move move move move there. Man you're looking so good. He's this guy needs a girlfriend. He has a girlfriend. He needs another girlfriend. I haven't met her. So she must not be a very good girl.
[12:19] All right. All right. Watch this. So so God the father. God the father has placed all of our sin on Jesus. And Jesus is begging. Look at what it says. As though God did beseech you by us.
[12:31] As though God did beseech you by us. So here's this Christian. And then and then as this Christian begs. It says look at what the verses. We pray you. We beg you in Christ's stead.
[12:41] That means in place of Christ. We beg you. Hey you be reconciled to God. Do you not see what's going on here? That God wants the world saved.
[12:52] God wants her to listen. God sends an ambassador to speak. Christ. This man stands and says. As I beg you. I'm begging you. In the place of Christ. Christ is begging you.
[13:03] God wants you to be saved. It's not the church wanting them saved. It's not me wanting them saved. It's not you wanting them saved. It's not the preacher wanting them saved. It's the God of heaven wanting them saved. Amen. So it's like as though Jeff.
[13:15] In the family. A little family illustration. He's got two people on the way. Trying to get people to get saved. You've been committed. Thank y'all. You've been commissioned as an ambassador. You've been given the privilege of going and telling people.
[13:26] How they can be saved. He made salvation available to all. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them.
[13:38] And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Everything's done on God's side. We're ambassadors to take that message. Salvation is available but not theirs until they believe.
[13:48] Now let me just stop here and say this. See God reconciled the world. It's really basically like this. Stand up Betty. So if you don't mind please ma'am. Don't beat me up after we get home over this.
[14:01] It's really like Betty and I've had this fight. And we're separated. We often have those fights. And I always get beat up. And she always wished she had a microphone.
[14:12] You know. But she gets her message across plenty of times. But you see what happens is. Let's just say. Let's come right here. We're fighting.
[14:23] And we're separated. And so she separates off. And God is off. Or I'm off. And here's what Jesus has done. God has done all of his part. And he comes and says. It's available. The gift of God is available.
[14:36] It's all paid for. She doesn't have to do anything. To get saved. She doesn't have to do anything to get right. I've come all this way. And I'm saying. Please. Let's get things straightened out. Now it's up to her. It's her decision.
[14:47] You want to get things straightened out? Praise the Lord. Her first time in 39 years. Okay. You can have a seat. Watch this. Watch it. Please watch this. Do you know what God's done? For the entire world. He's paid the price.
[14:59] He's paid the price. He's come all the way to here. Now it's not universalism. Which would be a heresy. Which would mean everybody's eventually going to get saved. And everybody's going to go to heaven. Because God reconciled the world to himself.
[15:10] No. What happened is God did everything to get everybody saved. He did everything to get everybody saved. But they're going to have to say. I recognize my sinful condition. And I turn from it.
[15:22] In my devotions this very morning. In my devotions this very morning. He's talking to the Pharisees. And he's telling them. You know what? The publicans and the prostitutes. They get saved before you guys do.
[15:32] You know why? Those Pharisees were so religious. They didn't need God. They weren't about to apologize. They weren't about to confess sin. Because they were good. Those prostitutes and wicked tax collectors.
[15:43] Knew they were bad. And they got saved. So listen to this. He's paid the price. Read the verse with me if you would. Read the verses with me. He made salvation for all. To wit that God was in Christ reconciled.
[15:54] You say where'd you get all? The world unto himself. Not impeding their trespasses unto them. Everything's done on God's side. We're ambassadors of that. We're to go tell them about it. And then look what he did with us. Verse 18.
[16:05] Go back to verse 18. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
[16:16] And hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of making peace between God and man. Now really what we're going to do is God's already made the peace. God's already placed all of it on Jesus.
[16:28] And Jesus has already paid the price. And I'm just going to go announce it to people. Hey, did you know Jesus died for you? Did you know Jesus paid the price? Did you know that Jesus shed his blood? Did you know that the wages of sin is death?
[16:38] But the gift of God is eternal life. And I'm going to go tell them that. And I'm going to go tell them that. I'm a minister of that. Salvation and reconciliation and forgiveness are purely a God thing. Understand this.
[16:49] Nobody ever gets saved on their own. Nobody ever does anything to make them worthy of going to heaven. It's all God. But God put us in charge of not saving them. But of declaring the message of what God did through Jesus Christ on the cross.
[17:03] We're to go and speak for him to them so that they will be reconciled. Look at you at verse 19. We're responsible for the message. We're responsible for the message.
[17:15] Verse 19. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses unto them. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[17:27] He said, hey, I'm placing it in your hands. I've given it to you. You're in charge of it. We are responsible. It's very obvious. You know what he told the church?
[17:38] He said, I give you a commission. As churches, man, we've got this so backwards. We've got it so wrong. We don't even understand what our purpose is. Why are we having church? Why are we having church? We're not having church so we can sing.
[17:49] We're not having church so we can worship and enjoy ourselves. He gave us the commission. He said, hey, you are to go teach all nations. And to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
[18:02] And to teach them to observe all things whatsoever I command you. He told us. That's our job. Our job. The apostle Paul thought he really meant that. So he was like a wild man running around the world.
[18:12] Paul said, hey, y'all, you need to get saved over here. Hey, y'all, y'all need to get saved over here. Hey, y'all, you need to get saved over here. And he was running around and telling everybody they ought to get saved. He was doing everything he could to get the gospel to people. You and I don't do that.
[18:24] You and I are like, well, that's their decision. And God will get involved in it. And God will fix it. And God will do it. But the truth of the matter is we were placed in charge of his message. It was committed to us.
[18:36] It's like the guy playing football and the ball is placed in his hands. The guy that gets the last bat, the last strike in the last out of the game. It's really a lot of pressure on him.
[18:46] He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's put us in charge. He's made us responsible of getting his message of love and grace to the world.
[18:56] Go to verse 20 if you would with me. We are ambassadors for Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.
[19:07] As though God did beseech you, God did beg you by us. We pray you, we beg you in Christ's place, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God.
[19:19] We have been given a divine appointment. As a church, as born-again believers, we've been given a divine appointment. We speak on behalf of the Lord Jesus with his power and his authority.
[19:30] Just to stop a second and say this, I don't know that hardly any of you have any idea who an ambassador is or what he does. But I lived overseas for 18 years. And every time something happened, they would contact the United States ambassador.
[19:42] And on the news, on the evening news, if our country bombed another place or if something happened on September the 11th or if something happened in Peru, the news people would always go over to the embassy and they would ask to speak to the ambassador.
[19:58] And the ambassador would walk out and say, I speak for the president of the United States of America. And then he would deliver a message. His message wasn't his message. His message was his boss's message.
[20:10] And by the way, it is a very powerful and prestigious position to be an ambassador. If I could just take you to the embassy, if I could just show you, if I could just show you the embassy and show you where they work and show you where they live and show you all the things they do to take care of their ambassadors.
[20:26] This ambassador is a big thing. He made us ambassadors. We have his message. He wants declared to the world. God begs people to be saved through us. As we preach the gospel and beg men to be saved, it's really us doing this ministry and the place of Christ himself in his stead.
[20:45] It's an awesome responsibility to have such a message, such a position, such an opportunity. Could you speak for Jesus if you knew what his truth was and what he wanted said?
[20:56] Could you speak for Jesus if you knew what his truth was and what he wanted said? Could you? Would you? Could you speak for Jesus if you knew that he wanted you to speak for him? Could you speak for Jesus if you knew that you had all the power of heaven behind you?
[21:13] I was in Mexico when a missionary's daughter ran away from home. And we were at the house and we were American citizens.
[21:23] I was with this missionary there to comfort him and help him. And the phone rang and the man said, I'm calling you on behalf of the ambassador of the United States of America.
[21:33] Your daughter is an American citizen. Can we do anything to help? My friend said, my friend said, I don't know what you could do. I don't know what we could do. He said, well, I'm sending a man out there, a representative, just to see what we could do.
[21:49] But he was a pretty powerful thing. When some armed guards and a United States embassy vehicle showed up and then took us all out to eat to a restaurant and said, oh, don't worry about it. It's on Uncle Sam. Just buy what y'all want to eat.
[21:59] And we sat there and we talked. And he came. He knew who he was. And he was just a little underling to the ambassador. You are an ambassador. You speak for Jesus.
[22:11] You have his message. You have his power. You have been blessed and touched by what he did in you. Could you speak for him? Could you? You know, that guy knew who he was.
[22:22] When he drove down the road, he had armed guards with him. He knew who he was. Do you know who you are? You're a child of the king. You're a child of the king. You're an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
[22:33] Take the message. Last verse. Go with me to verse 21. We are made the righteousness of God. Verse 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
[22:50] The most glorious truth in the Bible is this. That you are made the righteousness of God in Jesus.
[23:01] Jesus God came down to earth. Died on a cross. Paid our sin debt that we didn't deserve him to pay. Died in our place. Paid our debt. And came over and took a Tennessee hillbilly who deserved to go to hell.
[23:14] Who honestly, I can't think of, I know him pretty well. And I can't think of any good things to say about him. And every good thing I could think of to say about him would only be some prideful statement made out of my arrogance. Because that guy, he knows that he has no right to be saved.
[23:27] And God said, I will take your sin, put it on my son. And I will take my son's righteousness and put it on you. And today I stand here. A child of God. A new creature.
[23:38] A saint. By God. Jesus never knew sin. Jesus never sinned. Jesus took wicked sinners and made us righteous. Before Christ, we were full of sin.
[23:51] But not now. Now, I wish you'd look this verse up. I only will read two more verses. Two or three verses. But two passages. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. If you haven't got it marked, you ought to mark it. 1 Corinthians 6, 9.
[24:04] Do you guys not know that the unrighteous will not get to go to heaven? Do you guys not know that sinners don't get to go to heaven? Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
[24:16] Don't let anybody deceive you. Don't let anybody trick you. Be not deceived. No fornicator. No adulterer. No adulterer. No effeminate. No abuser of mankind. No thief. No covetous.
[24:26] No drunkard. No reviler. No extortioner shall inherit the kingdom of God. And the truth is, that was what some of us were. And if we went through this thing and we took it like the Bible says, if you've ever looked at a woman and thought a wrong thought, you're already fallen into the sin of adultery.
[24:40] If you've ever wanted things that weren't yours and had a lust for stuff, you don't go to heaven.
[24:51] But look what he said about verse 11. See, just watch this. He changes us. That's not who I am anymore. Verse 11 says, and such were. Put a circle around the verb.
[25:02] Were. This is what you were. Some of you. But now ye are washed. Ye are washed. Were. Are. Were. Are washed.
[25:13] Are sanctified. Are justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. He took Austin. He took the liar.
[25:23] He took the thief. He took the covetous person. He took the reviler. He took the all the wicked stuff that I was. And he washed me. And he made me clean. After he washed me and made me clean.
[25:35] He sanctified me. He made me holy. He justified me. He made me like as though I had never ever sinned. But that doesn't adequately describe it. You know what justification is?
[25:46] He made you like Jesus. We're made out of the same stuff. As Jesus. We have a new nature. We have partaken of the divine nature. The Bible says in first Peter.
[25:58] We're new creatures. We're not who we were. God took all of my bad stuff. And put it all on Jesus. And took all of his good stuff. And put it on me. I ought to thank God for that.
[26:09] What a powerful message I have. A powerful message that I can share. 2 Corinthians 5 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ. He's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new.
[26:20] And I'll stop. But watch this if you would. Please listen to this. So Jeff Bush could step into Argentina. Austin Gardner could step into Peru.
[26:31] The other missionaries you know. A guy will go to Thailand. A guy will go to Spain. And we will walk into those countries. And here's what we walk in saying. I am nobody. And I have nothing to give you myself. But I represent one.
[26:43] But I represent one. Who loves you. And paid your sin debt. And did all that's ever necessary. For you to go to heaven when you die. I represent one. I represent one. I'm here in the name of him.
[26:54] Fact is I'm going to beg you in his place. I'm going to beg you like he was God. Just think of this. As I talk to you. God's talking to you and asking you. And here's what he's telling you. You've sinned. And you deserve hell. But he loves you.
[27:05] And he doesn't want you to die and go to hell. And I beg you. I beseech you. I pray you. Trust God. Trust Jesus. And I can walk up to some Peruvian guys.
[27:17] And I can start talking to these Peruvian people. And explaining to them about Jesus. And something in their heart starts to burn. And conviction starts to spread. And they say in their heart. I've never heard anything like this in my life.
[27:29] Or you can go to a place like Morocco. Where these people are so far from the true God. They're washed in Islam. They're messed up people.
[27:42] Messed up by their religion. And Aaron and Tyler and Cesar and Ren. So can walk up to them and say to them. And let me tell you what Jesus did. And they start explaining what Jesus did.
[27:53] And all of a sudden. The Holy Spirit of God comes in. And begins to convict their heart. Except Christ as their Savior. They know they're going to go to heaven when they die. God does a work in them. We are ambassadors for Christ.
[28:05] We're ambassadors for Christ. You can go to China. Where it's impossible to have church. And impossible to reach people. And impossible to be used to God. And yet they walk up in there. And they share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
[28:16] And people get saved and lives get changed. You know we ought to be controlled by the love of Jesus from this morning's message. But you ought to know today. First you ought to know you've been reconciled.
[28:27] How many of you know you're reconciled? Say amen. Do you realize what it means? Don't take those words lightly. Don't look at that and say I've been reconciled. Wow. I've been saved. Wow. I've been redeemed.
[28:37] Wow. No. God took filth that deserved hell and saved you and transformed you. Man what a wonderful thing he's done for you. And then he turns to you and says you're my ambassador.
[28:48] And by the way if you don't know what your message is it's just like this. You were no good and I made you good. And you can go tell them that I love them and I want them to be saved.
[29:00] I cannot tell you. I got off an airplane in January of 1988. I stepped off of an airplane in January of 1988 in Lima and landed in Adiquipa a couple of days later.
[29:12] I landed in Adiquipa the city where we'd spend the next 18 years. I was scared to death. Had no idea how I'd go about it. I didn't know if anybody would like me. I didn't know if anybody would accept me. I didn't know if the message would work.
[29:24] I didn't know if I could communicate the message. And I stood in a little room that cost me $4 a month to rent the room. And I opened the Bible and here's all I said to him. He loves you. You have sinned against a holy God and you deserve to go to hell.
[29:36] But he loves you. He paid your sin price. He paid so you could be saved. He'll make you new. And they started coming. Accepting Christ. I can remember months going by nobody getting saved.
[29:49] And all of a sudden I don't know what happened. It was like God decided it's time to open the floodgates. You are ambassadors of Christ. You're ambassadors here in our community.
[30:00] People don't know him. They don't know how to go to heaven. They don't know these things. But they can through you. We are reconciled. Made right with God. We are justified.
[30:11] Made like we never sinned. As pure and holy as Jesus. We are sanctified. Made holy. We're saints. I have no idea if you even conceive of the beauty of that message.
[30:25] By the way, the world tries to understand that message. They tell stories about a prince and a pauper who changed places with each other. That's what happened. That's a Bible story really. That's how Jesus the prince took the place of the pauper and made us rich.
[30:39] Let us enjoy all of his riches. The whole world understands some concept of this. You ought to know it because you are born again. It ought not embarrass you to pass out a gospel track. It ought not embarrass you to invite somebody to come to know Jesus or church.
[30:53] It ought not to embarrass you. You are an ambassador. The ambassador of the United States is not embarrassed to be the ambassador.
[31:04] I can promise you. He is not embarrassed. You need not be embarrassed. Do you know what he's done in your life? Thank God and tell people and watch Jesus change lives.
[31:17] Father, I love you and I praise you and I thank you for what you're doing. And I beg you to cause us today to want to serve you more than we ever have before. To have your power and to be used of you. And I give you great honor and glory and praise for all that you do.